Fatherland

Fatherland was the first book I read by Robert Harris and from then on, I’ve read all his books except his latest publication.

The novel is an alternative history narrative, the plot a murder mystery set in Nazi Germany in the 1950s. Yes, you read that right. What if Hitler won World War 2? The allies have negotiated a treaty with Hitler and the world is a very different place.

The main character, Xavier March, a detective of the Kriminalpolizei, investigates the death of an old man and as he delves into the murder, he discovers a conspiracy that involves… show more.

I love it when a book uses a relatively less popular genre to create a new world with new rules. Fatherland starts with the premise of alternative history (what if Hitler had won the war?) but never spends time explaining how this alternative 1964 works. Instead, he tells us a spy thriller story like any other and I love how the author subtly feeds us the perils of dictatorship, making us wonder if it had happened in reality. It is a subversive novel without being apocalyptic or fatalist, and most of all, the ending is a clear attack on… show more.

Fatherland was Robert Harris’s first book and arguably one of his finest. A portrait of functional totalitarian evil, it is a projection of what might have happened if Hitler won the war - the first of this genre. I loved it for both the visceral atmosphere of Berlin under fascism albeit futuristic and also the very fallible moral quandary of the German detective protagonist. Originally recommended by a Dutch boyfriend of mine, I found it both terrifying - I genetically would not have existed under such a regime - and fascinating. The other thing I love about this book is… show more.

This is another great detective story. Fans of The Man in the High Castle (the Amazon series) will also be interested in Fatherland because it is an alternate history where Germany has won the Second World War. Set in Berlin in 1964, police detective Xavier March comes across a body in a posh neighborhood – I can’t say which one, no spoilers! But what begins as a murder investigation quickly devolves as March realizes there is a much larger conspiracy and cover-up, and each clue he finds puts him in greater danger.